Intiman Playhouse - History

History

Intiman's original location was a 65-seat theater in Kirkland, Washington. Under the leadership of artistic directors Megs and John Booker, the Intiman officially incorporated as a non-profit theatre in 1973. Over the next few years, the company mounted productions at Cornish College and Gary Austin's Second Stage Theatre in Seattle, growing in attendance and budget each season. By 1978, Intiman called itself "Seattle's Classic Theatre" and featured a resident company of fourteen actors, including Megan Cole, Clayton Corzatte, Ted D'Arms, John Gilbert, Patricia Healy, Richard Riele, Peter Silbert, Meg Hilton, Barry Mulholland, and Jean Smart.

In 1977, Intiman opened year-round administrative offices in Pioneer Square and hired Simon Siegl as its first general manager. With a season of five classic plays, Intiman also began a parallel program "New Plays Onstage," staged readings of contemporary works directed and performed by members of the ensemble. Over the next several years, Intiman was awarded institutional status by the King County and Washington State Arts Commissions and received an NEA challenge grant.

After a three-year planning process Intiman participated in the 1982 Scandinavia Today, an international exposition of Nordic culture, which took place in five American cities. Intiman presented staged readings of five contemporary works and two great classics on its main stage: The Wild Duck and A Dream Play, in collaboration with top Scandinavian directors, designers and playwrights.

Meanwhile, Second Stage, Intiman's venue for nine theatrical seasons, faced demolition to make way for the Washington State Convention Center. For several years, Intiman, unlike any other professional resident theatre in the area, operated without a permanent home. Under the continued leadership of Booker and Siegl, Intiman rented various performance venues around the city on a short term, basis, including Broadway Performance Hall on the campus of Seattle Central Community College.

This picture changed radically after 1985, when Peter Davis came aboard as Intiman's first managing director. Davis—a former scenic designer who had worked for both Intiman and Seattle Repertory Theatre—completely restructured Intiman's finances and administration. He successfully negotiated the plan for Intiman to operate and manage its current facility on the grounds of Seattle Center. That facility, the Seattle Center Playhouse (now Intiman Playhouse) had been built for the Century 21 Exposition (the 1962 Seattle World's Fair), and had then served as the original home of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. In 1982, the Rep had moved to a new facility elsewhere on the Seattle Center grounds. Intiman received a 22-year lease from the City. After a US$1.2 million renovation, in 1987, for the first time in its history, Intiman had a single facility with performance, rehearsal, production, shop and administrative areas. As it moved into its new facility, Intiman hired a new artistic director, Elizabeth Huddle, who served for the next six years, succeeded in 1993 by Warner Shook.

In 1994, Intiman became the first regional theatre company in the country to be awarded the rights to produce Tony Kushner's Tony- and Pulitzer-winning two-part epic Angels in America. Part One: Millennium Approaches closed Intiman's 1994 season, and Part Two: Perestroika opened the 1995 season. Directed by Shook, the complete Angels in America was the most commercially successful production ever to be produced at the theatre, reaching more than 63,000 attendees over its two-year run. Over the next decade, Intiman produced plays by such provocative and influential American writers as Edward Albee, Moisés Kaufman, Ellen McLaughlin, Terrence McNally, David Rabe, Anna Deavere Smith, Paula Vogel, and Chay Yew.